Bad Reputation
by Schmoo11d9
Summary: No one has ever been able to look past Marilyn's bad reputation, it defined her. Then she finally meets someone who is willing to give her a chance, will she change her ways and be able to make a new life for herself?
1. Bad Reputation

Chapter One

"That was great."

"I know." Marilyn huffed, already rolling out of the dingy bed.

"Wait, you're leaving _now_?" he said. She couldn't remember his name if her life depended on it, after a while all of them really started to blend together.

"Yes, we're done here aren't we?" Marilyn asked sarcastically.

"It's barely even ten, ain't there any chance of a round two?" he asked her, scooting over in the bed and grabbing at her wrist. She immediately yanked it away and laughed.

"Please, you barely made it through the first round. Besides, you'd be one lucky bastard to ever get with me again." Marilyn told him while putting on her other shoe.

"They were right, you are a bitch." He spat at her.

"Then why'd you wanna sleep with me so bad, huh?" She asked him with her eyebrows raised. The last thing she saw before she slammed the door behind her was the flustered look on his face.

She began the walk over to her friend's house, it was dark but she never minded that and it wasn't that far anyway. Normally after a night that ended so early she would just go home but her friend's birthday was a few days ago and she knew she had to go see her, apparently she was having some kind of boy related crisis too.

When Marilyn arrived Jill was already waiting out on the front porch for her.

"What took you so long?!" Jill hissed at her.

"Calm down, I'm not that late. Why are we whispering though?" Marilyn hissed back at her.

"Well, umm, uh… ya see…" Jill stuttered. This was actually the first time that she had ever invited Marilyn over to her house even after being friends for so long. She loved Marilyn to death but she also knew very well of reputation. Jill had three older brothers and they had friends that weren't always on the right side of the law, so she knew they would be alright with that aspect of Marilyn. It wasn't every_thing_ that Marilyn was doing that Jill was worried about; it was every_one_ she was doing that was the problem. To say that Jill's brothers were over-protective was an understatement. She knew that they would think Marilyn was a bad influence on her. Of course she could be around people that smoked and stole and fought, but God forbid she hangs out with someone who had sex. Plus Jill didn't want the issue of Marilyn and one of her brothers doing _it._ Too many things could go wrong if that ever happened and Jill was determined to prevent it.

"Spit it out kid!" Marilyn said, getting impatient. She lit up a cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke into Jill's face.

"Fine, fine!" Jill said after coughing "We're only going inside if you agree that you won't… do what you do, with my brothers. Any of them!"

"I have to see 'em first before I can make that promise." Marilyn smiled.

"No, I am not going to deal with that! Promise now or leave." Jill told her, crossing her arms.

"Okay, okay… I promise." Marilyn sighed. The two girls shook hands before walking through the front door of the house. Immediately Marilyn heard a low whistle come from the far side of the main room.

"Shut up Steve!" Jill snapped, already she was regretting this.

"I just wanted to meet your new friend Jilly, what's wrong with that?" Steve asked, getting up off the couch. "My name's Steve, what's yours?" he asked, directing the question at her chest. She was wearing a tight black leather jacket with an even tighter white tank top underneath that didn't leave much to imagination.

"I'm sorry, is that where her face is now?" Jill snapped at him again, he just rolled his eyes at her and sat back down. "Everybody, this is Marilyn. Marilyn, this is everybody. Now let's go to my room, bye everyone." She said, grabbing at Marilyn's hand, desperately trying to get her out of the living room.

"Hold it." Jill's older brother Darry said, holding up his hand. "I like to get to know my sister's friends a little better than that. Are you Marilyn Montgomery by any chance?"

"So you've heard of me?" Marilyn asked, smirking. Jill reached out and pinched Marilyn as hard as she could to get her attention. When Marilyn looked back at her Jill glared and shook her head. Marilyn sighed and muttered, "Yeah, that's me…" before zipping her jacket all the way up to her neck.

"Right, let me talk to my sister for just one minute." Darry said before grabbing Jill's arm and pulling her into the kitchen.

"You cannot be friends with her." Darry told Jill, using his 'assertive' voice.

"A little too late for that, don't you think?"

"Just stop hanging out with her, it's not that hard."

"Darry, we've been friends for two years, I'm not going to stop hanging out with her just because you don't like it!"  
"Two years?! How did I not know? How did that even happen? You're nothing like her!"

"You can't say that, you don't even know her!"

"Just tell me how you became friends, okay?" Darry pleaded with his little sister. Jill sighed but decided to go along with it, she thought back to that day, remembering what had happened clearly…

_Jill walked down the street, clutching her school books to her chest. She had taken a wrong turn getting home and did not like where she had ended up. She kept her head down, walking quickly, trying to get out of the neighborhood as fast as possible. Suddenly she saw a pair of feet in front of her and she stopped dead in her tracks. The stranger reached out his hand and lifted her chin. _

"_I haven't seen you around here before." He smiled at her. Jill was only fourteen and had never been more scared in her life. She was almost always with one or more of her brothers when she went out. It was easy to feel confident when surrounded by such intimidating people, but right now she just felt lost on her own. _

"_Why don't you come with me, I can get to know you a little better." He said, stroking the side of her cheek. _

"_No." Jill said taking a step back. _

"_Come on, we could have a lot of fun." He smiled again, and then grabbed her arm. _

"_No." Jill said again, just a little louder. She tried to pull away but that only made him hold on more tightly. "Let go! Please!" She begged. _

"_You'll be fine, just calm down, alright!" He yelled at her. _

"_Get off of her, now." A female voice came from behind Jill. _

"_Why do you care?" The boy sneered. _

"_I said let go of her." The voice said. _

"_Why don't you make me?" He threatened. _

"_Okay." The voice came again. The first thing Jill ever saw of Marilyn was her fist flying into the side of that guy's jaw. He stumbled to the ground and there was a large imprint of a ring on his face. _

"_I'll get you for that!" He shot at her, he spat on the ground before getting up and running around the corner. _

"_Thanks, for that…"Jill told the girl. She was significantly taller than Jill with long wavy blonde hair and piercing green eyes. _

"_No problem. That guy is such a creep, even I wouldn't do it with him." She said, smiling. "My name's Marilyn, what's yours?" She asked, holding out her hand to shake. _

"_Jill." _

Jill broke out of her reverie after telling Darry her story.

"What the hell?! Why wouldn't you tell me about that? You know I would've taken care of him for you." Darry looked like he could kill.

"But you didn't have to because Mary did! She's a good person!" Jill said.

"Yeah, yeah… I guess. I still don't like it though."

"But she can stay?" Jill asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, sure." Darry told his sister, feeling defeated. Jill gave him a quick hug then went back into the living room.

"Come on Mary, let's go to my room." Jill called to her friend.

"Mary, isn't that an ironic nickname?" Jill heard one of the boys say as they walked out of the room.

"Those guys are nice." Marilyn told Jill once she had closed the door to her bedroom.

"Guys are always nice to you." Jill countered.

"No, I mean it; they seem like really good friends. Now which ones are the brothers? I need to know which boys I _can_ go after." Marilyn raised her eyebrows.

"None, you can go after none of them." Jill told her friend sternly.

"Lighten up, I'm kidding!" Marilyn laughed but only received a cold glare from Jill. "Okay, okay, I won't go after any of them. Now let's get to the good stuff!" Marilyn said excitedly. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small bottle.

"What is it?" Jill asked, looking confused. She took it from her friend and read the label. It was something in French that she couldn't understand.

"It's perfume. I thought with this boy you told me about it would make a very practical birthday present."

"Wow, thanks. I'll have to try it out." Jill said, placing the bottle on top of her dresser.

"So, this boy, was he out there?" Marilyn asked, she had that look in her eyes. Jill blushed madly and sat down on the bed next to Marilyn.

"Yes! His name is Dally, what did you think of him?!"

"Dally? Out of all the older guys he was the only one who didn't try to hit on me. I thought he was just shy, but he did seem to be trying very hard to keep his eyes on his shoes."

"Really? That's great!" Jill sighed with relief. Marilyn got every single guy she wanted, Dally wasn't known for having one steady girlfriend, Jill was terrified that she would have to compete with her best friend for her boyfriend. She was so relieved to find out that Dally was being faithful, even when it came to just flirting with other girls.

"Yup, you found a good one, kid." Marilyn told her friend, smiling, and only feeling just a little jealous.


	2. Drink

**AN- Thanks so much to everyone that has read my story, I really appreciate all the favorites and follows! It's really great to see that you guys like it! I'd also like to reply to Pixie silver who reviewed my first chapter. The story's main character isn't the Curtis sister, it's Marilyn. I think I made a mistake writing it in 3****rd**** person, I've changed to 1****st**** person and I think it should be much clearer now, I'll go back to the first chapter and change that too. Also, if you want some explanation on the Jill-Dally situation I would suggest you check out my friend's Outsiders fanfic. Her username is Kennyboo and her story it called Here We Go, hope it helps!**

Chapter Two

I walked through the door of my small crappy house around two o'clock in the morning. My mother was sitting on the couch with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"You're actually home? That's surprising." I said to her.

"I could say the same thing to you young lady." She slurred at me. I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was probably already on her fifth or sixth beer.

"You really couldn't. See, when you spend the night with a guy you actually stay the entire night. The only reason I don't come home every night is because I hate it here. And, are you really going to pull out the 'young lady' on me? Ya know talking like that won't automatically make you a better a parent. You couldn't pull that even if you tried." I scoffed. I walked the two steps it took to make it into our kitchen and pulled another beer out of the fridge. I didn't even have a chance to open it before my mother was screaming at me.

"What would you prefer I call you? How 'bout bumblebee, it's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?!"

"Don't you ever call me that!" I whirled on her.

"Why not? It's what dear old Dad always used to call you, isn't it?"

"Don't bring him into this!"

"Why the hell can't I?! You obviously wish he was here instead of me. Well he's not here, he bailed on us. We have to rely on each other because your father left, and he sure as hell isn't coming back!"

"The only reason he left was because of you! He was sick of being married to a drunk who never had time for him or for her daughter. God! Why couldn't he have taken me with him when he left?" I yelled, slamming the bottle of beer down on the counter in frustration.

"Face it. he hated you just as much he hated me." She told me before taking a long drag from her cigarette.

"Don't say that! He loved me!"

"You're so stupid! I wish he had taken you so I wouldn't have to deal with all your shit!" My mother said, pointing her cigarette at me.

"Do you? If I wasn't here, where would you live? Who would you steal money from to get all your booze? I'm the one with the job, I pay the bills, I buy food, and I'm the one who has to deal with all of _your _shit."

"Really?" She asked, I could tell she was fishing for a comeback. She was so drunk I was sure that this much thinking must have been quite a strain for her.

"If I wasn't here you would be living on the street, begging people for money so you can buy more of this," I grabbed the bottle from her and poured the remaining contents down the sink.

"You bitch!" She hissed. I whipped open the fridge and took out the last three bottles of beer. Then crouched underneath the sink and wrapped my hand around the one I knew she always kept hidden there.

"Let's see who relies on who. I'm taking all the money and all the booze and I guess we'll just have to see when I feel like coming back." I told her. As I walked past her she stuck out her hand and jabbed her cigarette into my collarbone. I gasped with pain and she took the opportunity to grab me by the back of my neck and pull it towards her.

"I have friends," she began, her eyes locked on mine, "I. Don't. Need. You."

I yanked the burning hot cigarette away from my skin and stomped it out once it hit the ground. I wrenched away from her and spat, "Spreading your legs for someone doesn't make them your friend."

"You've got just as many 'friends' as I do, Marilyn." She said with her arms crossed.

"At least some of mine are real." I told her, and then slammed the door behind me.

"YOU'LL BE BACK BY TOMORROW!" She screamed after me from the front porch. _Doubt it_, I thought to myself as I rounded the corner of our street.

"Hey, hey! Will you wake up already?!" Someone yelled at me. I couldn't tell who it was, or where I was, I wasn't even sure if I still open my eyes.

"Get up!" Whoever it was yelled again.

"Noooo…" I groaned.

"Oh good, at least I know you're alive now." They said sarcastically.

"Stop being such a worry wart…" I pouted.

"Just get up, damn it!" They began to yell again. Then suddenly my arms felt like they were being pulled off of my body and I had gone from lying on the ground to standing on my feet in about half a second. However, it only lasted about half a second. I got light-headed and could barely feel my legs. it took me the same amount of time to be pulled up off the ground for me to begin falling back towards it.

"Shit." The stranger said under their breath. Instead of hitting the ground I ran into a hard muscled chest and a soft t-shirt. Nice surprise.

"Oh God, you reek." He said. He pushed me off of him and leaned me up against something. I decided it was probably about time to open my eyes. When I did I found myself in an alley behind a building, I was leaning up against one of the brick walls. I also noticed the blinding sun. I snatched the sunglasses the guy had hooked on his collar and pushed them up on my nose. I finally looked up at his face and immediately recognized him.

"Hey, it's Darry! Yayyy, look everybody! Darry's here!" I said, sounding a lot like my mother did last night… or some night that came before today.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking irritated.

"Well, ya see, my Mommy was just a teensy bit drunk last night and she wigged out on me. We got in a fight and, ya know, that made me sad… So what do I do to make myself happy? I GOT DRUNK TOO! WOOO!" I screamed, raising my arms above my head. I realized I still had a bottle in my hand and tipped it into my mouth only to find it completely dry.

"Listen to me," Darry said, stabbing his finger at me "I will help you this one time, but I swear if you ever do anything like this around my sister you will be gone, for good. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, captain." I said, saluting him. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me out onto the sidewalk and then down the street to the diner. We sat down and he ordered a large cup of coffee. When the waiter set it down in front of him he pushed it to me.

"I don't want it." I told him.

"Too bad. Drink it."

"I don't see what's so bad about getting drunk! I've seen some of your friends around; they drink twice as much as I do! And how come you're worried about me with Jill, but you'll let her date that Dally kid? Cut me some slack!"

"I know some of the guys drink around her, but none of them are going to try and convince her that it's okay to sleep with every guy in town." He said.

"Well, not every guy," I said, reaching my hand over the table to touch him. He immediately recoiled and I drew back, disappointed.

"At least I know Dally. I don't want to have to deal with the both of you. I'm supposed to be the head of this family, she's my baby sister and it's my job to protect her. Either you get your act together when you're around her, or you're friendship is done." Darry said to me, sounding angry. The tone in his voice made me start to really listen to him for the first time that morning. He leaned over the table and pushed the mug of coffee closer to me.

"Now, drink." He said. This time I did as I was told.


	3. A Place To Sleep

**AN- Thanks to all my followers, and reviewers: Alpha White Wolf, Pixie Silver, Snowbro, Yeastbaron, , Kennyboo, and warriorfan01. You guys really keep going!**

**Happy 30****th**** Anniversary Outsiders! **

Chapter Three

"Hey, can I get my paycheck now?" I asked, thrusting out my open palm.

"You didn't even perform tonight, why would I pay you?" my boss said, rolling his eyes.

"What are you talking about?! I was up there all night, I even worked an extra two hours!" I almost shouted.

"Getting up there and dancing around half-naked hardly counts as working." He scoffed.

"You sure seemed to like it the night you gave me this gig." I said, crossing my arms.

"Yeah. And unless you do that again for me tonight, you're not getting paid until next week, sweetheart." He told me. He was standing way too close to me and when he breathed 'sweetheart' I could smell beer on his breath. I gagged.

"I'll manage," I said, shoving him away from me. "You know I never do the same scum bag twice."

"If that's the way you want to play it darling." He smiled while shoving a wad of cash into the pocket his too-small leather jacket. I turned to leave and he smacked my butt as I was walking through the door. I needed this job and it took everything I had not to turn around and beat the shit out of him.

I walked out of the sleazy bar/strip club and down the street, it was about three in the morning so I didn't think anything would be open but I was dying for a cigarette and I had just finished my last pack. I saw a small light about a block away and prayed that I could get what I wanted. I walked up to the store front and looked inside but it didn't seem like anyone was inside. I looked around and immediately saw what I was looking for. I picked up the medium-sized rock and tossed it around in my hand before hefting it through the glass door of the store. The entire thing shattered and I stepped tenderly over the broken glass into the empty store.

Or what I thought was the empty store.

As soon as I walked in a door in the back burst open and banged against the wall. A small Asian man came running out of the back room screaming at the top of his lungs. He grabbed a wooden broom that was leaning against a shelf and came running towards me full speed.

"Damn it," was all I could get out before he was on me. I towered over him but that didn't stop me from worrying, people who couldn't fight for themselves always called the cops. I pushed him into an aisle and he went sailing. As soon as he was down I ran to the counter, leaped over it and snagged a couple packs of cigarettes. The man was up again and coming for me. This time I pushed him against the counter and slammed his head into it. I was hoping that I could knock him unconscious and buy myself some time. He crumpled to the ground but I could already hear him moving around as I ran through the broken door.

It wasn't long before I saw my shadow in the bright lights of the cop car.

"How'd you find me?" I asked the officer, I had my hands raised above my head and a cigarette dangling out of my mouth. The cop came over to me yanked the cigarette out of my mouth and threw it on the ground.

"Hey!" I yelled, I went to hit him but he grabbed both my arms before I could do anything.

"It's 3:30 in the morning and you're wandering the streets, trust me, you weren't that hard to find." He said while cuffing me. "It's not like we haven't seen you before either."

"Well then I'm a returning customer, shouldn't you treat me nicely?" I smiled at him.

"Cute." He said sarcastically. He put his hand on my head and pushed me down into the back seat of his car.

"Our friend Marilyn is back!" The cop who arrested me yelled as he escorted me through the door of the police station.

"Hey boys! Long time no see!" I smiled at everyone in the room and they responded with cold stares. "Tough crowd tonight…" I mumbled.

"You know, we normally only have those ratty teenage boys pulling stupid stunts like this. It's nice to know that all the greasers are trash." The old fat man sitting at the desk told me. I glared at him but didn't have a chance to say anything back before I got pulled away into the back where all the old cells were.

"I'll take the usual." I told the cop before he pushed me into the first open cell.

"You're unusually snarky tonight, you know that?" The cop asked me from the other side of the bars.

"Yeah, like normally I act like I hate all of you guys' filthy guts?" I answered.

"Exactly," He nodded.

"Well, I guess tonight I'm just happy I found a place to sleep!" I told him, and then gave him a smile. "Don't I get my call or somethin'?" I asked.

He looked kind of shocked for a second and then mutely nodded a yes.

"Jill?" I said when she answered.

"Yes I know what time it is, I got into some trouble."

"I'll tell you when you get your butt over here."

"Yes you can, come on Jill."

"No, I can't call my Mom! Are you crazy?!"

"Come on, I need you."

"Thank you! You'll come in the morning then?"

"Yes, okay, I owe you! Remember to bring money!"

She said alright and I waited for the 'click' on the other line before I hung up myself. The cop walked me back to my cell and locked the door behind me. I sat down on the cold hard concrete bench and thought about what I had said before. _I'm just happy I found a place to sleep… _ It was only the first night after I had the fight with my Mom but it felt like years. I meant what I had said. I wasn't going back there anytime soon. Right now a jail cell was better to me than my own home. _My life is so screwed up…_ was on repeat in my mind all night long.


	4. Isn't That Cute

**AN- Sorry I had to skip a week guys! Last week was our school's spring break and went on vacation. Thanks to Kennyboo, MissySparkles, Snowbro, WolffChan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, Yeastbaron, , and phoebequintero for all the follows and reviews! I'm glad you guys keep up with me even when I'm gone! **

Chapter Four

I woke up the next morning with absolutely no idea where I was. I looked down and saw the drool on the cement bench beneath me and the night's events slowly filtered into my brain. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and groaned. Every muscle in my body was sore and my head began to pound.

"Well isn't that cute," A voice said above me. I looked upward and out of the small cell and saw Darry standing there with his arms crossed.

"Shit," I muttered, putting my head in my hands. "What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was?" I asked him.

"You called Jill at almost four in the morning and you didn't expect to wake anyone else up? I made her tell me who she talking to after she hung up." He answered.

I began to retaliate but he cut me off before I had half a word out of my mouth.

"You know you got some nerve doin' this! You're twenty one years old and you call a sixteen year old girl to bail you out of jail?! Do you get how crazy that is?! And after everything we talked about earlier you still go and pull this stunt. What was in your head?" Darry lectured me and I began to see the parenting side come out in him.

"I just really needed a smoke." I said, smirking at him.

"You have got to be kidding me! That's what this is about? Did you rob a place just to get a lousy pack of cigarettes?" He asked. I looked up at him and shrugged. He sighed and dragged his hand over his face. Suddenly he turned around and went through the door that led to the main office. I thought he had gone to leave, but a few minutes later he came back in with the same cop who had arrested me. The cop unlocked my cell door and spread his out "You're free to go." I stood there for a second and gave him a puzzled look.

"Well… let's go!" Darry yelled at me. I turned and gave Darry the same confused look I gave the cop but slowly walked out of the cell.

"Did you bail me out?" I asked Darry as soon as we were out of the police station. He just nodded mutely, not looking too happy.

"But, you… why?"

"Listen, if had my way I would have just left you in there."

"Thanks," I huffed. He gave me an irritated look that clearly said _May I continue now?_

"But for some bizarre reason Jill cares about you and she made me promise that if I came down here I had to bail you out too." He finished.

"How kind of you," My words dripped with sarcasm. He gritted his teeth like he was holding back what he really wanted to stay to me. Instead he said, "Do you have someplace you need to be? A job or something… I borrowed Two-Bit's car so I can give you a ride I guess."

"My job is kind of a night time thing." I explained to him.

"Of course it is. Do you have a house?"

"Can't go home,"

"Do you have a friend's house?"

"Just Jill,"

I heard him curse under his breath a few times and then he turned his attention back to me.

"I really need to stop making promises to that girl. Come on, let's go." He said, gesturing to a car in the parking lot. Even with no explanation is was obvious Jill had directed him to not just leave me at the station alone.

I got in the car and we began to drive in silence. After about ten minutes we pulled up to a small construction site. I t looked like they were building a house but it was too soon to tell.

"What? So I just have to sit here and watch to work all day?" I asked Darry as he got out of the car.

"You got somethin' better to do to?"

I made a face and sat back in the seat. He actually smiled at me, but then ruined it with "Yeah, that's what I thought." and a slamming of the driver's side door.

I rolled down the window and stuck my head out. _I feel like a dog. _I thought to myself. _A real tramp… _I laughed silently at my own joke and simultaneously realized how sad it was.

"Is that?" one of the other workers asked Darry, pointing in my direction.

"Yes." He answered. The other worker looked back at me in awe and I waved at him and gave him a wink.

"Did you," he raised his eyebrows, "with her?"

"No." Darry replied so forcefully it made me wince. Darry saw that the other guy was confused and just said, "Long story," and began working.

The first hour or so of the day was uneventful. Bus as the day wore on I could tell the guys were melting hot because of all the work they were doing. I glanced over at Darry and had to do a double take. He was taking off his shirt and I could see the muscles on his abdomen ripple as he stretched his arms above his head. He bent over to pick up a stack of wood and I saw the sweat drip down his toned back. Suddenly I was the one melting. I leaned forward and rested my head on the dash.

"Oh my…" I whispered, swallowing hard. I certainly wasn't used to being caught off guard by a guy like that.

After a few minutes he came over and rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Lunch break." Was all he said. He tilted his head to the side, telling me to follow.

We sat down on a stack of 2X4's and he reached into a paper sack and pulled out a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an equally small piece of chocolate cake. He tore the sandwich down the middle and handed me half.

"Wow, dinner and a show." I said, taking a bite. He looked confused but I was glad he didn't get it. I was having a very hard time concentrating around him and I was trying to do anything to distract myself. "So do I get any of the cake?" I reached over and dipped a finger in the frosting. I brought my hand to my mouth and slowly sucked the chocolate off of it. I made sure to close my eyes and make all the appropriate noises too. Normally about now I would see that certain _something_ in the guy's pants but Darry didn't seem phased in the slightest.

"You're sick, ya know that?" He said, smacking my hand down. "Do you even know how to talk to people? Hold a conversation like a normal person?"

I just ignored him, tried to act like I didn't care. But deep down I knew the answer was no, I really didn't know how to talk to people.

The silence after that was deafening, then, after a few minutes I heard Darry take a deep breath.

"So… why can't you go home?" Darry ventured, looking uncomfortable.

I rolled my eyes, "Please, you don't care about my life. I'm just the town slut to you, just like I am to everyone else."

"No, I, I uh," He looked around like he was going to really regret what he was about to say, "I really want to know."

He met my eyes and I sighed.

"Well, ya see, my Mom and I got in this huge fight. That kind of shit is pretty normal between us cuz she gets kind of angry when she's drunk. Problem is all she really is, is a drunk." I started.

"What and you're not?" Darry asked looking skeptical.

"Hey!" I said, getting mad, "I may be a lot of bad things but I'm not a drunk! What happened before hasn't happened in a long time! I was just goin' through a rough time ya know?"

"Alright, I'm sorry. So why was this fight different?"

"She brought up my Dad this time."

He looked at me expectantly, like I needed to explain a little further.

"My Dad left us when I was ten. That's when my Mom started getting bad; Dad said he just couldn't handle her lifestyle anymore." I was trying to stay calm, but talking about him always made me upset. "With my Dad we were rich. He had this real important job ya know? If he were still here I wouldn't just be a soc, I would be _the_ soc. We had all the best things, got all the breaks, I went to the nicest school in town. When he left, I thought there was no way he could leave me behind, he was my best friend. But he did. Mom used to blame me for his bailing on us. She hadn't talked about him in a long time though. So when she brought him up… I just kind of snapped. I took all the booze, told her that it was her fault he left, and that I wasn't coming back until she was sober." Then I looked back at Darry, "and I meant it."

He looked kind of blown away. I don't think he was expecting me to dump my life story on him like that. Hell, I didn't expect it either. I hadn't said that much to someone in a long time and I was already starting to regret it. I had a reputation to keep up and this wasn't helping it any. Darry was slowly looking less shocked and more and more angry.

"That sounds pretty rough, but…" He jumped up from where he was sitting and began to walk away. Just as quickly as he had gotten up he turned around. "But at least you have parents to fight with."

I just sat there, stunned. That day we both realized we knew a lot less about each other than we thought we did.


	5. Charity

**AN- Thanks to all of my followers and reviewers, DeaDea96, HelloMrSunshine, Kennyboo, MissySparkles, Snowbro, SuaveSwayze, Theonlyredhead, Wolffchan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, XxCheshireSmilexX, Yeastbaron, gnarley, , phoebequintero, you guys rock!**

Chapter Five

Darry's POV

After I walked away I tried not to look at her for the rest of the day. I kind of knew what I said was harsh but there was just something about that girl that got to me that I just couldn't explain. The few times I did glance over at her sitting in the car she seemed so upset, I knew I was going to regret it, but I had to make it up to her somehow. I never thought I'd be doing anything nice for Marilyn Montgomery, how did she get so involved in my life so fast?

My day ended as the sun was setting so I put away all of my roofing stuff for the next day and headed back to the car. When I got up to the car I half expected Marilyn to lock the doors on me, but she just crossed her arms and looked away.

"So… you got someplace to be now?" I asked sighing, trying to not to meet her eyes either.

"I really don't need your help ok? I can just walk to work, it's not that far." She said, un-crossing her arms.

"If you were just going to walk you could have left hours ago! Just let me drive you to work, where is it?" I said, exasperated. Seriously, why was I trying to be nice to this girl?

"Um… East 31st street."

"It's not that far? That's on the other side of town!" I yelled, throwing my hands up. Marilyn just shrugged and continued looking out the window. I sighed for the second time and started the car.

Again, the ride with her was completely silent. Occasionally she would point in the direction I needed to go, but that just managed to make me more frustrated. I'd never been to where we were going, but I still certainly knew where it was.

We finally pulled onto East 31st St. and it was probably the seediest place I had ever seen in Tulsa. Marilyn nodded her head towards the place where she worked and I turned it. There was a very large, and very broken, neon sign above the building that read 'GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!' with a giant life size cut-out of a lady next to it.

"This is where you work? Let me guess, you're a waitress?" I asked her sarcastically, but secretly hoping I was right. She looked at me and for a split second I thought she was going to get mad, but she just started to laugh.

"You wish." She told me.

"When should I pick you up?" I asked. Damn it! I didn't mean to say that, why couldn't I just leave her alone? She's an adult, I'm sure she can figure something out.

"You don't need to take care of me, I'll be fine!" It was her turn to yell at me now.

"I'm sorry. Did you want another repeat of last night?" I questioned. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, at a loss for words. Then, in a flash, I could see the light change in her eyes.

"I guess if you really want to come in and see the show…" She smiled and placed her hand on my arm.

"Will you stop? Can you get it through your head that I'm not going sleep with you like every other guy? It would be a lot easier for the both of us if you would just give up already!" I yanked my arm away, "I'll just wait in the car."

"If you want." She mumbled, looking upset again. "Seriously, if this is the way it's gonna be, you might as well just leave."

"I'm not just going to leave, I promised Jill, remember?"

"Yeah, Jill is all I've had for a long time now. You don't have to butt in."

"Why can't you just let me help you? I'm trying to be nice!" I growled, probably not sounding too nice. "Listen," I started, trying to calm down, "You can't go home, and you can't go back to jail. Why don't you stay with us until you get things figured out?"

There it was, the thing I was going to regret.

"Excuse me?! No. No!"

"Don't you realize you can't do everything for yourself?"

"I don't need your charity!"

"It's not charity. Think of it as… a friend helping out a friend." I forced out the words. Why was I fighting for her? Wasn't this exactly what I didn't want?

There was silence for a few minutes before Marilyn's shoulders finally slumped, giving up the fight.

"Fine, whatever…" She grumbled, getting out of the car. I don't know why it was so hard for her to accept help from someone, but I knew _Jill_ would feel much better knowing she wasn't sleeping in an alley somewhere like she had done before.

I really didn't know how long it would take, so I turned on the radio and watched the cars pass by in the street. After about an hour I was bored out of my mind, how had she done this all day? I finally decided to go inside, get a drink, and come back out. After dealing with Marilyn all day, a drink sounded perfect.

"Beer, please." I said to the bartender. He popped off the top to a cool one and handed it to me. I took a sip and leaned against the bar. I looked around and saw about ten round tables with chairs around them, surprisingly the place was pretty full. I wondered what could be so special about a place that was in this part of town.

I took another drink as the lights dimmed and a spot light hit the stage. A girl walked through the part in the curtains and I choked. It was Marilyn.

"You alright there pal?" The bartender asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah, fine, fine." I sputtered through coughs. I wiped beer off my chin and turned my attention back to the stage. Marilyn was wearing a _very_ short, green strapless dress, and black heels. All in one motion she let her hair down and dropped her dress to reveal lacy black underwear.

"Oh my…" I breathed, mesmerized by her movements. After about ten minutes of her dancing around the stage she pulled one of the straps of her bra down and then the other… I realized what was about to happen and snapped myself out of the trance. I chugged the last of my beer, slapped some money down on the bar and got out of there as fast as I could.

What the hell just happened? God, I hope she hadn't seen me, there's no telling what would happen if the guys found out about this. I closed my eyes, hoping to sleep for the rest of the time but the only thing I could see was Marilyn dancing through my mind. Suddenly having her stay with us seemed like an even worse idea than before.

I sat in the car for a few more hours until Marilyn finally came out, wearing the clothes she had on before. I tried to look innocent but came up blank, so I just put my hands on the wheel and prayed she didn't notice anything weird.

"Well, let's go!" She prompted, after I failed to start the car after a good five minutes.

"Right…" I trailed off, turning the key in the ignition.

We pulled up to my house and she followed me inside. I turned around to face her and crossed my arms.

"If you're going to stay here, there are going to be rules." I stated flatly.

"Rules? You've got to be kidding me. I haven't had rules since I was ten." She laughed.

"You have to come back right after you're done with work." I began.

"A curfew? Come on, you have got to be joking!"

"You're not bringin' any guys here, ever." I continued, not allowing her to interrupt me again.

"I've see the guys here all the time! They already spend way more time here than I'm going too and they don't have to do all that crap! Besides, you offered to _let_ me stay here. I didn't ask for this!" She took a step closer to me and stomped her foot. It was all just a show though, she had given up so easily before that I knew she really was desperate for a place to stay. Now it was just a front so she would seem tough.

Honestly, if it was anyone else I really wouldn't have made them do all those things. But she wasn't just anyone, she wasn't just one of the guys. If this was going to work out, we needed to have a strictly business relationship, and that's all.

"You're different alright?" I told her. She made a move to say something but she didn't have a comeback for that. She was out of defenses.

"Ok, I'll follow the rules." She sounded sarcastic, but for a moment she just barely looked vulnerable, then it was gone in a flash.

I grabbed an old blanket and threw it to her. "You can sleep on the couch." I said, pointing to it. She just nodded and sat down.

"Night," I said before walking out of the living room and into my own room. I heard her say the same thing threw the thin walls. I got in bed and pulled the covers over myself.

I couldn't sleep at all that night knowing she was so close to me.


	6. That's Cool

**AN- Thanks to all my followers Kennyboo, DeaDea96, HelloMrSunshine, Jolienolastname, Missy Sparkles, Snowbro, SuaveSwayze, Theonlyredhead, TigerrChan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, XxChesireSmilexX, Yeastbaron, gnarley, , only girl on the outside, and phoebequintero, you guys rock!**

Chapter Six

Marilyn's POV

I had no idea what time it was when I woke up. The sun was shining through the front window and I could still see dew on the grass so it must have been early. Unlike the most recent morning I had jail I knew exactly where I was this time. I looked around from my spot on the couch but didn't see anyone else in the Curtis household. However, I could hear several people. It sounded like the voices were coming from the kitchen but I couldn't be sure. I didn't want to interrupt them so I just sunk down under my blanket and pretended to be asleep just in case someone came into the living room.

"Who is that?!" A boy's voice said his voice cracking.

"That, is Marilyn Montgomery. She was here a few nights ago, remember?" Another voice replied, I couldn't place either of them.

I almost gave up my sleeping act when the door to the house burst open. The sound scared the hell out of me, but I got over it quickly. I heard feet stomping into the room and lots of indistinguishable yelling. In a second it stopped and I could just feel the eyes on me, after about a minute I heard the same feet running into the kitchen and the voices starting up again.

"What is she doing here?"

"I thought you didn't even like her!"

"Wait, did you two… OW!"

I didn't see what happened, but I guessed someone suggested that someone else did "it" with me, and that certain someone didn't appreciate it very much. It was probably Darry.

"No, we did not! That is not why she's here!" Someone yelled. Yup, it was definitely Darry.

"Then why is she here?"

"She's just goin' through a rough time alright? I offered to let her stay here until she got things patched up. I'd do the same for any of you and you know it." Darry said trying to act like it was no big deal. I don't think anyone in that room bought it though, I know I sure didn't.

"You coulda asked us about it first! She's a lot different than just one of the guys!"

"If you don't want her to stay just say so. It was hard enough to get her to come anyway, I'm sure she'd be happy to leave." Darry suggested. Now I was panicking, I knew I put up my tough independent wall when Darry asked me about living with them but I still _really_ needed a place to stay, no how matter how much I acted like I didn't.

"Sounds just like her." A girl said sarcastically, I knew that voice was Jill's for sure.

"No, we can't make her leave now. It'll be fine Pony." Another voice said, since he was addressing Ponyboy I guessed that this voice belonged to Sodapop.

"She can probably hear us right now…" Another voice twanged. I wasn't quite sure, but I think that was Steve talking now.

"Let's just…" Darry sighed deeply "Let's just let her stay for a while and see how it goes. Is everybody ok with that?"

"Sure!" That was Steve's voice again.

"You don't even live here man!" Sodapop said and I heard another arm being smacked. The footsteps started up again and I felt someone nudging my shoulder.

"Hey, Marilyn, wake up." I opened my eyes and saw Darry looking down at me.

"What time is it?" I mumbled while rubbing my eyes, trying to act like I had just woken up.

"About seven I think."

Seven? Shit, I hadn't been up this early in a _long_ time. I haven't even had a full night's sleep for what felt like years before tonight. No wonder I felt so out of whack.

"Do you want some breakfast or somethin'? I'm makin' eggs…" Ponyboy stuck his head in from the kitchen with a frying pan in his hands.

"You know what? I think I'm just going to head out for right now." I was trying not to be mean, but I needed to get out of there fast. This just wasn't me, no one ever cared what I did, who I was with, where I was sleeping, whether I was ok or not. No one ever cared, and I sure didn't need anyone to now.

"What? You're leaving? Already?" Darry asked me.

"Yeah, ya know I just said I would sleep here I don't gotta be here all day, do I?" I retorted. Everyone just stared at me, I waited about five seconds for someone to speak up, but when no one did I knew that was my cue. I grabbed my jacket off the floor and made it to the front door in three steps. Another three steps and I was already off of their porch.

"Mary, wait up!"

I stopped walking and felt Darry's large hand on my shoulder. I turned around completely ready to blow him off, but as soon as I saw the look on his face my resolution began to waver.

"We'd all really like it if you could just stay. Why can't you just stay?" Darry asked, a pleading tone in his voice.

"Thanks for your hospitality and everything, but I, um… I just don't think I can do this." I answered, I hoped he would listen so I could leave. No luck.

"Why not?"

I looked down at my boots, unable to respond.

"Damn it, I'm just trying to be nice!" Darry almost yelled, going from pleading to agitated.

"Well I don't have my clothes or nothin'…" I mumbled. Ooh, look at me, Queen of the Lame Excuses. I just didn't know what to say to him! If anyone else had come out of that house I would have kept walking without giving it a second thought. There was just something different about him, something genuine, something that made me feel like I didn't want to be alone anymore.

"So what?" Darry asked, totally seeing right through me.

"So… I've been wearin' this for three days now, it's dirty…" I mumbled again. God! I was normally so cool around guys, why couldn't I get my thoughts straight? I honestly have no idea how I was even getting words to come out my mouth right then, I felt so stupid.

"Well then let's go to your house and get all your stuff. You coulda just said that instead of walking out for no reason!"

"No." I certainly didn't have to fight to get that thought out. As much as I wanted to be nice to Darry I would not go back to my mother's house, and there was nothing he could do to make me.

"No?" Darry asked. Why did he have to keep asking me things? Couldn't he accept what I was doing without questioning me?

"You heard me. No. I refuse to go back to my mother's house. I am not going to see her again."

"You told me that she was drunk all the time. It's so early in the morning she's probably still out or she's still passed out from last night. You don't have to talk to her, just walk in, grab your stuff, and go!" He said, trying to persuade me.

"I am not going back there." I told him again, in a no-nonsense kind of voice.

"You're the one who said you needed clothes. If you weren't going back, why did you even bring it up?"

Damn it! The sun had barely risen and I was already having a rough day.

"… Don't change the subject! The point is I'm not going back, I'm never going back! And, ya know what? I think I'm kinda feelin' the same way about your place now too. Just leave me alone and we'll all be fine." I turned on my heel but just like before I only made it about three steps before Darry had a hold on me again.

"You didn't have any other place to stay last night so I'm sure you don't have anywhere else to stay now. You will come back to our house, right after we go to your Mom's." Darry told me, his grip tightening around my wrist.

"I said no!" I yelled.

"We're going!" He yelled right back before grabbing my other wrist with his enormous hand. I jabbed the heel of my boot onto his toes, twisted my wrist out of his grasp, and then rammed my elbow into his gut. I don't think he was expecting it to be as hard as it was and he let go long enough for me to start running. He caught up to me in an instant and this time he came up behind me and wrapped his hands around the top of my arms.

"Don't make me do this." He hissed in my ear.

"Funny, I could say the same thing."

This time I aimed my elbow upwards towards his face and I felt the impact of the hit against his nose. It probably would have worked but he changed his strategy the second time through too. He didn't let go. Since I couldn't use my arms I began kicking at his kneecaps, I got in a few good blows before Darry swooped down and wrapped both of his huge biceps round my own knees. He pushed up and suddenly I was slung over his shoulder like a giant sack of potatoes.

"Are you kidding me?!" I screeched. I tried kicking again but his arms were like vices around my legs. I was at a disadvantage with my arms too, all I could do was kind of flail them around and that didn't really help me much. I mean I seriously think that Darry Curtis is made up completely of muscle, it's a little terrifying. I have been in plenty of fights and not once I have been against someone as strong as he was.

"I warned you." Darry said, chuckling.

"This isn't funny! Let me down!"

"No. Huh, doesn't that sound familiar?"

"You don't even know where my house is. This isn't going to help any if you can't even take me where you want me to go."

"I'll figure it out."

I tried flailing around a little bit more but it still wasn't of much use.

"You know I've got a switch in my back pocket, this could get real ugly if you don't let me down!" I threatened.

"Really? I don't know how it could get ugly seeing as you can't even reach it right now and," I felt one of Darry's arms leave my legs and then his fingers slipped into my back pocket and pulled out my knife, "now I have it."

"Give it back!"

"No. Look, there's that word again."

How did this even happen?! I am so pissed right now! The only thing that's making me even more upset is that while all this is going on, all I can think right now is_…He just touched my butt…_ What's wrong with me?!

After about ten minutes it became pretty obvious that due to Darry's pure strength there was no way I was getting out of this, I figured I might as well have some fun to make things a little bit better.

"Hey, you know what you guys should call Two-Bit instead of Two-Bit? Two-Butt!" I laughed and then waited to see what his reaction would be. I must have the best ears because I swear I could hear his eyes rolling.

That thought gave me an idea. I may not have been able to fight myself out of this little predicament but there were other ways. I stretched my hands out and quickly squeezed Darry's behind.

"Hey!" He jumped a mile and his grip loosened on my legs. I began to slide out of his grasp and I hopefully expected him to drop me but he re-gained focus held on to me again. I was a lot farther down now though so all I managed to do was get myself face-to-butt with Darry, my plan sure worked out well.

"Great…" I muttered.

"We're here." Darry stated, coming to a stop.

"No way!" I yelled. Could he have seriously found my house without ever being there before? This was getting kind of weird.

"See for yourself." Darry stood me upright and all the blood rushed from out of my head and I began to wobble, trying unsuccessfully to recover my balance on the solid ground.

"Holy shit…" I whispered, partially because of my dizziness and partially because I was actually standing in front of my house. "There is no way in Hell you could actually find this place without knowing where it was." I looked at him in complete confusion. I seriously still had problems getting here sometimes. It was close to the Curtis' house, but there were so many small back roads that I managed to get lost all the time.

"Ok, Jill may have told me where it was." He told me sheepishly.

"Typical." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for, ladies first!" Darry said, clapping me on the back. He did it so hard I literally fell over; the after affects of being upside down for that long were not pretty.

"Sorry…" Darry got out quickly, coming over to help me up. He latched onto my hand and pulled me to my feet in one swift motion. We were face to face now, much closer than I had expected to be, and still holding hands. Time stopped for a moment, and then suddenly we both broke out of it, letting go of each other and coughing, muttering incoherently. You know the basic awkward situation stuff.

"So, do we need to go through a window or somethin'?" Darry asked, still clearing his throat a little.

He looked at me like I was absolutely insane when I started laughing hysterically.

"You think she actually locks this place?" I questioned, "That's a good one! Look the door's wide open." I pointed.

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a sarcastic look, "Ain't that smart."

Darry followed me inside and I honestly think I might have heard him gag a little. The old shack was normally pretty grimy but even after only being gone for a few days it was downright filthy. Dirty clothes completely covered the old carpet, and the few spots that were visible showed large unsightly stains. The smell Darry was reacting to was a mixture of cigarette smoke, rotting food from the kitchen, and the dozens of half empty bottles of booze.

"You live here?" Darry asked, getting his composure back.

"LIVED, lived! As in I don't live here anymore. And yes, trust me it wasn't as bad as it is now, this is definitely a low… you do kind of get used to it though." I looked around and inspected the rest of the house. I didn't see anyone around so I assumed mom was probably still out with some guy. I picked my way across the floor and found a small path leading to my old bedroom. I snatched a bag that was hanging off the door knob and began hurriedly cramming clothes into it. I had everything out of my closet and into the bag in about a minute, I really didn't own that much. I was looking around for anything else I might want when I heard Darry's voice coming from the living room.

"Did you hear that?" He yelled from the other room.

"No, what are you talking about?" I was a little annoyed, I thought he was getting paranoid or just trying to get me worked up over nothing. There was no way he was going to joke around with me after hauling me out here.

"W-w-who are you?" A second voice came from farther away. It was incredibly faint and their speech was slurred but I recognized it as soon as I heard it. I dashed out of my room and latched onto Darry's arm.

"We need to go! Now!" I hissed at him. I was about to pull him towards the open door when my mom began to scream.

"MARILYN?! MARILYN IS THAT YOU?!"

I turned around and bolted for the door, dragging Darry behind me as well as I could. I was three steps from the door, two, one… CRASH! A bottle of vodka exploded on the wall right next to my head and I felt shards of glass rain over me, one larger piece came down harder than the others and lodged in my skin right next to the burn my mother had already given me. I whipped around and saw her getting up from the floor; it looked like she had been slumped over behind the fridge where we weren't able to see her at all before. She raced towards me and had her hands on the collar of my jacket in a second. She pinned me against the wall and put her face just inches away from mine.

"Oh look," She turned her gaze to the piece of glass sticking out of me, "now you'll have another scar! How 'bout a third one for the road?!" She spat and I recoiled. Her breath reeked and it looked like each and every one of her teeth was rotting out of her mouth.

"Not likely, you old hag!" I shoved her off of me and she thudded to the floor. She was frail and weak but I was still terrified of what she could do to me.

My mom got her hands on the shattered bottle and stuck it out in front of her, "You're not getting away so easy this time!" She jumped up and lunged for me, jabbing the broken bottle around like it was a sword. I reached for my switch in my back pocket before remembering it no longer there, even if it was I wouldn't have been quick enough anyway. Before I even got my hand back out in front of me again Darry had swatted the bottle out of my mother's hand and had her back on the ground. He brought his foot down on her ankle and applied pressure. My mom cried out in pain but it didn't even faze me, I took hold of Darry's hand and ran out of that place like my life depended on it and in that moment, I really felt like it did.

We ran until we were about half way between Darry's house and mine. I doubted my mom was going to follow us, especially because of her now busted ankle. Even if it was broken it's not like she would have followed anyway. My mother was like her own gang, she was all high and mighty on her own turf but she wouldn't dare take a step out of her normal territory.

Darry and I slowed down to catch our breath and I peered over at him.

"Thanks… for that, ya know, back there… maybe you're not as bad as I thought." I told him appreciatively, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder. I was kind of used to fighting my own battles and fighting Mommy Dearest was a whole different level than most people.

"Sure… I normally wouldn't have hit a girl but – "

I cut him off "But you'll throw one over your shoulder and snap another one's ankle all in the same day?"

"Yeah, I'm-" He began to apologize and then I saw his eyes grow wide, I followed his gaze to see what he was looking at and realized I still had a jagged piece of glass stuck in the skin next to my collar bone.

"Oh…" I trailed off, "Know what? It's no big deal, here, just gimmie a second." I took hold of the glass and tried to pull it out myself but all that resulted in was a few profanities that may or may not have started with the letter "F".

"It's really in there, ain't it?" I said trying to sound like it wasn't really bothering me, even though I could already feel the sweat forming on my forehead from the pain. I went to grab it again and Darry stopped me before I could touch it.

"You're not doing that yourself." He insisted. I wanted to protest so badly, but the searing pain was really overshadowing that urge. Funny how you can barely notice something right when it happens, but once you wait awhile it's the only thing you can focus on.

"Here," Darry started. I let my hands drop to my side and he gently put his own hands on me. One on the front of my shoulder to get a bracing point and the other wrapped around the glass. "This is gonna hurt real bad, alright?" He prepped me.

"Oh really? It is?"

"How can you manage to be so sarcastic even in a situation like this?"

"It's a gift!" I smiled. That ended quickly.

He began to pull out the shard of glass and I clenched my fists, trying to steal myself against the intense pain. When it was about half way out I could hardly stand it any longer, I took a step forward and clamped my teeth down hard on Darry's shoulder. I know it sounds weird but it's like when you gotta get shot or something and you hold someone's hand. Well, Darry's hands were kind of occupied and I just really need something to hang on to. It finally came out and I gasped in relief. Darry threw the remnants of the broken bottle on the ground and looked back at me. His hand was covered in my blood, and he kept looking back from his hand to my neck like he was still confused about something.

"Was this what your mom was talking about when she mentioned the scars?" I didn't really know what he was talking about until he brushed the collar of my jacket aside and put his fingers over my burn. I nodded silently, but after a moment I had to speak up.

"She got me with her cigarette butt the first night I left… It's actually still kind of sore." I mentioned offhandedly, trying to make it less of a big deal than it was.

"Sorry," He moved his hand, but now it was right over the place where he had taken the glass out and I hissed in pain.

"Sorry!" He said more urgently this time. Yet, instead of putting his hand down he just moved it over a few more inches until it was resting on the base of my neck. My skin tingled involuntarily and I gulped down air.

The same thing had happened earlier when he had helped me up, of course, I wasn't really sure what was happening at all. It was just weird. Good weird. But not the kind of good weird you tell people about, just the kind that you can't stop thinking of…

"You should probably wash your hands…" I murmured.

"Right," He left his hand on my neck for a second longer and then finally retracted. "You're probably gonna wanna wash that up and get it looked at." He said, getting back to his normal self.

"There was already alcohol on it when got in there, it's probably fine." I responded, "I can pour some more on there later if you're really worried, get it all disinfected and what not."

"Yeah, but that's gonna hurt a hell of lot worse than taking that glass out." He told me, almost laughing.

"Got that right… But you and I both know I ain't goin' to no doctor. If the same thing happened to you I know you sure wouldn't be either." I knew I was right. He may have been better off than I was, but it was obvious money was tight around his place too. He nodded in consent, keeping his head high and his eyes forward.

"You got all your stuff now, so, we goin' home?" He asked, still not looking at me. Probably wondering if I thought this was the opportune time to run, which I did. I couldn't follow through with the idea though, but after all the fuss I made, I also couldn't seem too eager to go back there.

"That's cool."

I had a home.


	7. Don't Flip

**AN- Thanks to all my followers****,**Kennyboo, DeaDea96, HelloMrSunshine, Jolienolastname, Missy Sparkles, Snowbro, SuaveSwayze, Theonlyredhead, TigerrChan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, XxChesireSmilexX, Yeastbaron, gnarley,only girl on the outside, GreaserGirlie, Oninja, Shedaises, and phoebequintero, love you guys! (By the way, this is only about half of this chapter. I've been super busy lately so this one isn't done, I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm still here and I'm still writing!)

Chapter Seven

Darry's POV

"How can you have something like this happen and be so calm?" I wondered out loud. Marilyn basically had just been brutally attacked by her own mother and she didn't seem to be affected in the slightest. The pain was palpable when I had to pull that shard of glass out of her shoulder, just watching what my hands were doing made me feel sore, yet, as soon as it was over she went make to her normal cool demeanor. Even now with blood running down the front of her shirt she was completely emotionless, you could have paid me a million bucks to read her expression and I all I'd be able to come up with would be "Eh."

"That's the thing. I'm not calm. I'm pissed off, I'm confused, I feel like I could run for miles on all this adrenaline, but all I want to do is collapse and sleep… but I know I can't do that which just gets me pissed off again and then all I feel like doing is punching something as hard as I can." Marilyn began yelling, beginning to sound like she was on the edge of hysterics. This may sound mean or crazy or rude, but I was so incredibly relieved to hear her say all those things. I had heard so many rumors about her being totally heartless, cold as ice. I was so happy to find out that she could react to an event like this like a normal person would, to know that she had feelings, that she wasn't just a hollow robot. Before I could think about the mean or rude aspects of this though, that one idea popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

"Thank God!" was all I said before comprehending what I had just done.

Marilyn's hair flew around in a whirl of gold as she snapped her head to look at me, now clearly fuming with anger. "You think all of this is funny? I know you hate me but you don't have to be so freakin' open about bein' happy at my expense!" her volume had now grown so much that it was hard to have her that close to my ear.

I then did the worst possible thing I could have done in that moment.

I laughed.

And laughed and laughed and laughed. I hadn't laughed that hard in what I knew had been years, and it was like all of those years had completely built up to this one moment. Everything just came out, I couldn't stop laughing, I tried and tried but I was cracking up. I knew I should be angry and upset or at least maybe a little shook up after what had just happened to us… but I didn't. I just didn't. It felt so good.

I tried to explain to her what was happening, "God! You have real feelings! I could never crack you. I never got what the hell was going on in your head! I thought all you were was sex and a cold heart, I can't believe there's another side to the infamous Marilyn Montgomery!"

Yeah, that felt good, until I looked back at Marilyn.

All of those emotions that she had been talking about earlier were clearly flashing across her face. Her fists were balled at her sides and I could see them slowly turning a pale white. Marilyn's face went the exact opposite of her knuckles, she was flushed up to her ears and had her lips clamped together so tightly I thought they might be stuck like that forever. I could already feel the sore spot on jaw from where she was sure to punch me any second now.

Completely out of the blue her lips puckered, her eyes got wide, and it sounded like she was trying to blow very poor raspberries. I stepped back into the grass behind just as a precaution, I had no idea what was happening and was confused beyond all belief. Then, I took a step back to where I was when I realized what was actually going on with her. The understanding came to me in a blink of eye and it all made sense to me now.

She was trying not to laugh herself. Marilyn bit down on her lower lip and I could hear her breath going in and out in small spurts. She finally let loose, her mouth opening to form a giant "O" and she began whooping like nothing I had ever heard before. It wasn't that awkward little tinkling giggle that was so often heard from the Soc girls at school, this laugh was all alone in its own category. Her face was slowly turning an even deeper shade of red than it already was and I could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes, glinting in the sunlight. Of course all this did was get me started up again, I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about this moment was infectious. I honestly had no clue what was happening, but it gave me such a care free, easy feeling. I felt happy.

By this point we were close enough to the house that we could see it easily from where we were. We slowly started up walking again, and I really mean slowly, we were both holding our guts, already feeling the satisfying soreness of laughter in our bellies. We finally managed to swing through the screen door of the house, still with a few breathy chuckles escaping our lips. Jill was sitting on the couch flipping through an old magazine and her head flew up to look at us the moment we entered. The very first thing her eyes connected with was the large blood stain on the front on Marilyn's shirt, she was up off the couch in a second, coming to inspect the wound.

"What is this?!" Jill shrilled with serious panic in her voice.

"What? It's nothing, don't flip." Marilyn told her, nonchalantly blowing off her concern.

"DON'T FLIP?"

"That is what I said Jill."

"How the hell can you expect me not to flip?! This looks really serious Marilyn!"

"It's fine! Really, no big deal."

"No big deal?"

"Are you just going to keep repeating everything I say?"

"Just…" Jill breathed deeply through her nose, "just tell me what happened."

Marilyn took a turn repeating Jill and took a deep breath herself. She walked over to the couch and plopped down in the same spot Jill had just stood up from. Her eyes wandered up from the floor to focus on the group of people that had now formed around her. The others had come from different parts of the house when they heard Jill screeching like she was.

"Well…" Marilyn began.


	8. High

**AN- Thanks to all my followers **Kennyboo, DeaDea96, HelloMrSunshine, Jolienolastname, Missy Sparkles, Snowbro, SuaveSwayze, Theonlyredhead, TigerrChan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, XxChesireSmilexX, Yeastbaron, gnarley,only girl on the outside, GreaserGirlie, Oninja, Shedaises, phoebequintero, NOGUNNOFUN, firegirl97, and sammyxxjames. Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been very slumpy about the story lately.

Chapter Eight

Darry's POV

"Holy Shit… Your momma's psycho!" Two-Bit sputtered, laughing through a mouth-full of beer.

"Wow. Really?!" Marilyn rolled her eyes, then snatched the beer bottle out of his hands and took a swig herself. If Jill could look any more astonished then she already was she managed to do it.

"Gimmie that!" Jill grabbed the beer bottle away from Marilyn and kept it from both of them. "Stop joking around! What are we going to do about this?!"

"First off, what do you mean 'we'? No one here is a part of this, they don't need to be and I don't want them to be. Second... nothing. I got my stuff, what's the issue Jill?"

"The issue?! I cannot wrap my head around how you can be so calm about this! This is serious Marilyn."

Marilyn stood up to tower over Jill, "What do expect me to do about it? You'd be outta your damn mind if you think I'm gonna call the cops. You'd be even crazier to think that I'm going back there to work things out with mommy. Things are fine they way they are, we're done talking about it."

"I'm just… I'm worried about you Mary. Are you sure you're okay?" Jill asked her friend, raising her eyebrows sympathetically like girls tend to do.

"Honey, I'm the last person you need to worry about. I've gone through much worse than this. I promise you I'm fine." Marilyn answered, putting an arm around Jill's shoulders, and yet again I saw another side of Marilyn Montgomery that I wasn't expecting. I thought Jill was crazy for having a friend like Marilyn but right then I actually think I saw what Jill saw in her. I could tell how much Marilyn cared about my little sister, could see how much she wanted to take care of her and protect her, and how Jill felt the same way about her. Of course at the same time I realized that meant that I really did have to deal with Marilyn now, and everything else that came with her. Seeing Jill like that I knew I had to, if my own sister cared enough about this girl to do all this for her, I knew I could too. Then seeing Marilyn like that, made me really want to.

"OKAY, now that all this girl stuff is outta the way, let's go have some fun!" Steve whooped, breaking the silence that was beginning to settle on the room.

"Shut up Steve!" Marilyn teased, pivoting around to punch him in the shoulder. Steve faked pain and dramatically grabbed his arm, which of course got all the other guys laughing. I was the only one to see Marilyn turning around, a grimace on her face, hand pressing into her new injury.

"You alright?" I took a little risk and put my arm around her.

"Yeah…" She paused, "I'll just punch him with my other arm next time!" She smiled and all the pain fled from her face. "Um, Darry?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for asking, thanks for…" Marilyn swallowed a few times like her throat was dry before she continued, "being there." She leaned into me and gave me a small squeeze before detaching herself to go join Jill. Maybe this really wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it was.

The next few weeks seemed to be the most blissful time of my life. Our whole house ran like clockwork, every day Ponyboy and Jill would go to school then Marilyn would go to work with me. Sometimes if I got off early we would take drives around the town or go see Steve and Soda down at the DX, then I would take her to work and pick her up when her shift was over. Marilyn surprised me every day, this girl that I thought was so hard and tough completely opened up to our little family and became a totally different person. Not only did she act like a big sister to Jill, she was already best friends with all the guys. And I know what you're thinking, but it wasn't like that all, if any of them were getting any action we would all know about it. She just made me smile every time I saw her, and she always made me laugh, I hadn't been this happy since my parent's accident.

It was a Friday night and I was waiting in my car out in the parking lot of the strip club. I felt creepy for being here every night and always hoped that no one would ever recognize my truck but I was too worried about Marilyn walking home at three a.m. to not show up. Normally she came out right on time but when I glanced at my watch it showed that she was ten minutes late. I didn't think too much of it and watched the back door, expecting to see her strutting out any second now. Ten minutes slowly turned into fifteen, then even more slowly to twenty, when my watch finally told me she was half an hour late I decided to go in and see what the deal was.

I walked around the front of the building and easily passed by the snoring bouncer. My eyes initially wandered towards the stage, trying to see if Marilyn was just working overtime and had forgotten to tell me. There were definitely one, or two, things that made me want to keep looking for her on the stage but I could tell she wasn't there. I started towards the back where the dressing rooms were when someone called my name.

"DARRRRRRYYYYYY!" The voice hollered, sounding very slurred. The voice seemed to be coming from the bar so I changed my path and went over. There were more people around than usual so I had to wedge my way to the stools in front of the counter. I felt my body stretch as I twisted around and around trying to look for a familiar face, the one that belonged to the voice that called my name. I was already so frustrated I was about to give up after just a minute or so, when a flourish of blonde hair caught my eye. Just as quickly a loud crash caught my ears by surprise, I jerked to my right to see what had happened and wasn't happy when I saw the flash of blonde hair again.

I knew in a second who it was and instead of wedging my way through the crowd I was shoving them out of my way, each person like an annoying fly I had to bat away from my face. Marilyn was rolling on the ground in a hysterical fit of laughter, she had two guys on the floor next to her doing the same thing. I reach down and grab a fistful of the guys' shirts, one for each hand, and haul them to their feet. I push them away from me and they soon have the fate of the rest of the crowd I had to get through to get here.

She's on the floor still and for some reason I can't think of anything to say. I just stare at her in disbelief, how did I not realize something like this was going to happen sooner or later? Her hair is in snarls, matted in some places and sticking out on end in others. She has her leather jacket on but she still wears her "uniform" underneath, well, mostly. The straps are off her shoulders and the top is rolled down so it basically looks like she's wearing just a bra and an awkwardly shaped skirt. For a moment all feel is sadness and a certain pity for her. That doesn't last long.

Like a shockwave the anger hits me from every direction, I breathe it in through my mouth and feel it seeping into my pores.

"Someone looks mad." Marilyn says, looking up at me through the hair hanging in front of her face. She begins to laugh but she keeps her teeth together so it sounds like a mixture of a cat hissing and someone choking on their food. I wrap my hands around her wrists and yank her to her feet, she sways but stands upright. But before I can get a word out of my mouth she grabs one of the guys who fell down next to her and smacks his lips with hers. That's when I notice the lipstick smeared across her face and realize she's probably been doing that a lot tonight. I feel something bubble inside me other than anger but the feeling is so new to me I have no idea what it is or how to act on it. So I focus on the anger again.

My hands find the collar of her jacket and I pull her towards me, not really caring if I hurt her or not.

"I thought you said you didn't drink." I growl, leveling my eyes with hers.

"I don't," she giggles, "you don't have to drink to feel this good!" Marilyn hollers, throwing her arms in the air. The others follow, whooping and shouting, thrusting their beer bottles into the air. "Guess what I did?" she asks me, eyebrows raised. The answer is obvious but before I even think about answering she leans in close and whispers into my ear, "Hint, I'm not _high_ on _life_…" she giggles again and I can feel her spit on my ear.

"Hey! Is that your girl man, because I could definitely use some of her lovin' tonight!" A man yells at me, which he's much too close to be doing. I see how he's looking at her and that odd feeling bubbles up inside me again. I want to punch him until he's unconscious, but a small ounce of logic creeps up on me and I know it will just cause an even bigger mess. I find myself turning around and swiftly zipping up Marilyn's jacket all the way up to her neck.

"Let's go." I say to her in a low voice. Without waiting for her to agree with me, or even acknowledge that I said something to her, I bend down and set my forearm behind her thighs and lift. Unlike the last time I did this to her she is completely willing and I think she even finds it fun. If it weren't for the drugs this would be a much different story. I can feel her chest moving from laughter against my back and for a second I see a different picture in my head. We're not fighting like we always do. I'm not forcing her to do anything that she doesn't want to do. She's laughing because she's having fun, not because she's hopped up on drugs. In an instant the picture fades and we're back in the dark, dirty parking lot we started out in.

"Wha-what are we doing?" Marilyn asks, eyes wide with confusion. "We need to be inside, that's where all the fun's at silly!" She smacks me in the shoulder and tries to make a break for the door.

"No." I pinch the back of her jacket and pull her back to me.

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean we're going home. Now."

"Why do always do this?!" She grabs at her hair and pulls, "You always gotta boss me around and shit, well you're not the boss of me mister!" She points a finger at me and looks like she's got more to say, but her eyes drop to her finger. She begins to inspect it intently and slowly her laughter starts up again.

"You are high off your ass." I mutter, dragging a hand over my face. I think I'm actually glad she is though. Even though she's mad at me, Marilyn is much easier to deal with this way than when she's sober. As much as she tries, I really don't get much resistance when I guide her towards the car and buckle her into the passenger seat.

She tilts her head back and almost instantly falls asleep, so the ride home is quiet. I pull up to the house but let her rest for a few more minutes before I pull her out of the car. She moans groggily as she sits up but she's awake enough to walk up the front steps and inside by herself. I know because the nap did her good and when I reached for her she slapped my hand away and responded with a curt, "Don't touch me." Good old Marilyn.

We parted ways in the living room, she flopped face first onto the couch without another word and I could already hear her snoring as I creaked open the door to my room.

I woke up a lot later than usual the next morning and was thankful I didn't have to work today. My feet stuck to the floor as I walked through the kitchen to the fridge, I stopped with my fingers stretching for the handle. Something seems off. I turn from the fridge and go into the living room, no Marilyn. Instead Jill is sitting on the couch, nonchalantly munching a piece of toast. I don't know where Ponyboy is, but I know that Soda would be at work by now.

"Where's Marilyn?" I ask my sister, only slightly suspicious, still hoping everything is fine.

"She left." Jill answers without looking at me.

"When?"

"Last night."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me." She shrugs.

"Too late." I say, gritting my teeth. Why does she seem like she's holding something back?

"I don't know," She responds in a tight voice, "I guess she just didn't want to be here anymore." I can tell she's fighting to keep her voice cool.

"What did you do?" I take a step closer.

"Nothing!" She almost yells at me, shooting to her feet as she does so. My sister is a terrible liar and has already given herself away in more ways than one.

"What did you do?" I ask again, taking another step towards her.

"Why do you even care?" Jill explodes, "Why does it matter where she is? You don't even like her, we all know it! You should be happy right now, just let it be Darry!"

In a way I know she's right, everything would be so much easier if Marilyn wasn't here. Maybe I should be happy she's gone, but I'm not. I don't want things to be easy, I want Marilyn.

I yank my shoes on my feet and run to get my jacket from my room.

"Where are you going?" Jill screams at me from the living room.

"I have to find her." The door slams behind me and I pause for a moment. "I _have_ to find her." I repeat to myself. My feet barely touch the ground as I begin to run.


End file.
